Rubio Critical of Obama’s Executive Actions

President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address pointed to some areas of common ground on policies to help the poor and immigration, but the president’s emphasis on acting unilaterally through executive action is “deeply counterproductive,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) said Wednesday.

Sen. Marco Rubio speaks to reporters gathered at a Wall Street Journal breakfast the morning after the State of the Union address.

Melissa Golden for The Wall Street Journal

Mr. Rubio, a key ally for Mr. Obama on overhauling of immigration laws who has also shown interest in anti-poverty measures, also said at a breakfast sponsored by the Wall Street Journal that he thought there are “probably better ways” to help the poor than the administration’s proposal to raise the minimum wage.

Speaking the morning after Mr. Obama’s State of the Union address that gave only short mention their shared interest in overhauling immigration law, Mr. Rubio said it was “the right thing to do” for Mr. Obama to give House Republicans wide berth to decide how to proceed on the issue.

Mr. Rubio generally applauded the optimistic tone the president set in his speech, but said he went too far in his plans to use executive action to advance policies in areas where Congress has blocked him.

“All presidents get frustrated with Congress,” said Mr. Rubio. “This president seems to have extra frustration, and he reacts to it with unilateral actions that are unproductive and, in my option, borderline unconstitutional.”

He cited as an example Mr. Obama’s decision to postpone implementation of elements of the 2010 health care law, and said that “selective enforcement of Obamacare” has created a broader mistrust that undercuts Republicans’ willingness to trust the administration in other areas including immigration.

Mr. Rubio was a leading proponent of the far-reaching immigration bill that passed the Senate last year to tighten border security and provide a path to citizenship for the 11 million people in the U.S. illegally. The House has been slow to move on the issue, as most Republicans there oppose the path to citizenship and have said they would rather deal with the issue piecemeal rather than in one comprehensive bill as the Senate did.

He said, however, that the biggest obstacle to passing a bill allowing a path to citizenship is the mistrust many Republicans feel about whether Mr. Obama will enforce immigration laws.

On foreign policy, Mr. Rubio said that Mr. Obama’s opposition to legislation to strengthen sanctions against Iran will be effective only if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) keeps it off the Senate floor as the White House has requested. Mr. Obama threatened to veto sanctions legislation but Mr. Rubio predicted that the bill would pass the Senate by a veto proof margin.

Mr. Rubio saw potential areas of compromise on anti poverty efforts and the Earned Income Tax Credit — a tax credit for the working poor. In his speech. Mr. Obama called for expanding its benefits for people without children, who now receive much less than families with children. Mr. Rubio recently called for scrapping the EITC in favor of different work incentives.

While he agreed that it was an “important issue” to provide more aid to childless people, Mr. Rubio said it would be a bigger improvement to pursue his new “wage enhancement” system that gives low income people a steadier stream of money than the EITC, which provides a lump sum only when they file their taxes.

On the president’s proposal to raise the minimum wage, Mr. Rubio said was concerned that would be a disincentive for employers to create new jobs. While he shared the goal of wanting people to have larger paychecks, Mr. Rubio said, “My question becomes, if we want to empower people with higher pay, there are probably better ways to do it that are more enduring than simply a federal mandate on wage level.”

Watch a video from the WSJ breakfast in which Sen. Marco Rubio discusses the future of the GOP:

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Sen. Rubio on immigration reform:

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Sen. Rubio on raising the minimum wage:

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Why Rubio fears a nuclear Iran:

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VIDEO Q&A at 1 p.m. Wednesday: What do you make of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech? Can he push through a minimum wage increase nationwide? What about these new myRA retirement accounts? How about jobs or foreign policy challenges? Join the Journal’s Aaron Zitner, Carol E. Lee and Patrick O’Connor for a video Q&A at 1 p.m. ET Wednesday, and submit your questions. http://www.spreecast.com/events/can-obama-rebound

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